Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Into the Dalek

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Into the Dalek doesn't fit well with other DWU narratives. You can also talk about the plot holes that render its own, internal narrative confusing.

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• The Doctor comes onto the Aristotle. First they consider killing him. Then, even when they decide he might be useful as a doctor, they still keep him under armed guard "in case he's a spy". But somehow they let him pop off in the Tardis for a few minutes to pick up Clara?!
  • The Doctor has dealt with soldiery types before with UNIT and all that so he must have found some way to get them to back off - smart-mouth retorts and mind games, and stuff like that that just generally confuses other people. And it wouldn't be the first time he's slipped away without anyone noticing, in this case allowing him to pop off and pick up Clara.
  • Since the point is never raised again, it's possible the Doctor either talked his way out of it, or Journey interceded on his behalf.

• The Doctor says that there is no such thing as a good Dalek multiple times throughout the episode, has he forgot Oswin Dalek from Asylum?
  • Oswin wasn't born a Dalek but was turned into one so her inherent nature wouldn't be the same. Considering that the Daleks that captured and converted her were the insane inmates of the asylum, they may have carried out the conversion process incorrectly and failed to purge Oswin's humanity even if they changed her biology.
    • Perhaps, but there's also Tasha Lem, a Dalek duplicate that turned good, as well. However, as said, the Doctor here is dealing with natural-born Daleks, not conversions.
      • Dalek puppets aren't natural-born Daleks and they aren't even proper Daleks , so once again their inherent nature wouldn't be the same. The Doctor also takes a moment in Asylum of the Daleks (TV story) to speak to Darla von Karlsen to get her to remember who she was in a failed attempt to get her to resist her conditioning. The Time of the Doctor (TV story) and The Dalek Generation (novel) before it later both showed that successfully resisting Dalek puppet conditioning was possible under the right circumstances. When it comes down to it, a human who is able to resist their conditioning isn't exactly the "good Dalek" the Doctor is looking for.

• How did the resistance group get Rusty? According to Morgan, they take no prisoners. Also, what did the resistance group hope to gain by going inside? And why didn't they have any doctors onboard, even if "Daleks don't leave any wounded"? What if somebody slips and breaks their arm or something?
  • Multiple questions there, so multiple answers:

• They explain how they got Rusty - they found it, already damaged, and only didn't destroy it because it started talking about destroying the rest of the Daleks.
• They also explain in the episode why they went inside it - to find out why it had turned "good", and to heal it (assuming it actually was good and therefore their ally against the rest of the Daleks).
• Lots of combat units travel without doctors. Even in today's world, most just have medics at best. Of course, most soldiers are also trained in basic first aid, so they could treat a simple injury like a broken arm.

It's also stated that the "take no prisoners" primarily refers to humanoids given the Daleks' ability to create replicants.

• Maybe I missed something, because no one else seems to be commenting on it, but how did the Doctor and the soldiers get out and get re-sized? The machine for miniaturization is explicitly shown as being destroyed. It looked to me like they just cut back after Rusty killed the other Daleks and the Doctor and the others are just back.

I don't remember seeing the machine destroyed myself but if it was they may have had another one in case of emergency, or the re-sizing process was done by a completely different machine.

Prior to being shrunk, Clara is shown being given bracelets to wear to maintain the miniaturisation. Pressing a button on them was said to return the wearer to normal size.

• Why both Rusty and the other Daleks do not recognize neither the Doctor or the TARDIS?

The Doctor had regenerated so they couldn't identify him in his new body - they don't recognise him in Day of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks (the Renegade Daleks at least) or Doomsday for example until they are told or find out for themselves. And I think the Dalek boarding party did recognise the TARDIS (even if we didn't see it happen on-camera), so they knew the Doctor must have been on the station and it only made them fight on harder.

Oswin made the daleks forget about the Doctor (and presumably the Tardis) in Asylum of the Daleks